Tambling Monkeys By Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower Analysis

How many mistakes are acceptable to make in order to win? Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower correctly argues that it doesn’t truly matter, as long as you don’t make the very last one. He was speaking of chess, but this also applies to many parts of life, especially the competitive ones. The one to make the last mistake is always the one to lose, as can be seen in games, competitions, and sports. And although one could argue that the winner must be more cunning or a better player to win, it all comes down to the one to make the very last error.
This philosophy can be seen through many parts of life, such as in kids’ board games. As a kid, I used to play a game called “Tumbling Monkeys” with my brothers. This game was set up with a plastic, hollow
tree, in which you inserted multi-colored sticks through holes on the tree. You then piled plastic monkeys into the tree, which were held up by the sticks.
Each player took turns pulling out one of the sticks, attempting not to let any of the monkeys fall out of the tree. The first person to let any of the monkeys fall was the loser. If you made a fault, pulling the wrong stick, it cost you the game. This is a similar concept as several other kids games, such as Jenga and Yeti in My Spaghetti. In Jenga, you have to be careful not to knock over a wooden tower, while attempting to pull out a piece of the tower at each turn. In the game Yeti in My Spaghetti, you place plastic “noodles” on top of a bowl, then place a toy yeti on top of that. The objective of the game is to pull noodles out from under the yeti without letting him fall into the bowl. Again, the loser in this game is the one to let the yeti fall into the bowl. In all these kids games, the loser is the one to make the very last mistake, ending the game. However, there is a deeper meaning behind this. These 3 games were all created for kids, introducing the prospect of winner/loser along with it. By playing these games, kids are already placing an emphasis on the winning the game,
rather than the fun of the game itself. We live in a very winning-oriented society, and most people believe there is nothing to games but winning. They stop caring for the experience and aim to be the best, feeling like a failure if they lose. However, the winner may make the second-to-last mistake, but that does not make him any better than the other players. The loser may have been playing perfectly throughout the entire game, yet that one last mistake cost him the game. Does that make him a worse player? Does one mistake make him bad at the game? The other player(s) did not play perfectly, yet they made the second-to-last mistake, causing their victory. One tiny mistake could have caused his downfall, even if he was the best player.
This philosophy is also shown in “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins.
In this book, 24 kids from the country of Panem are placed in an arena and forced to fight to the death. Near the end of the fight, 3 kids are left: Katniss, Peeta, and Cato. They are all being chased by mutts, who are clearly trying to kill them. Katniss and Peeta, who have formed an alliance, climb to the top of the Cornucopia to escape, while Cato attempts to follow them. However, he slips during his climb, falls to the ground, and is immediately attacked by the mutts. He soon dies, and Katniss and Peeta are declared the victors. In this “game,” Cato made the last mistake by falling, and it cost him the game - and his life. In this gruesome book, winning may not have been the best outcome. Although you came out alive, you would have to live with the memories of death and destruction for your entire life, and that’s almost worse. There’s more to life than winning. Society places such an emphasis on the outcome that we lose sight of the most important part - the experience. Although in the Hunger Games, Cato made the last mistake, in the end it was better to die than to live with the
memories.
This concept can also be seen in real life competitions, such as competitive bands or spelling bees. When trying out for a band, you must audition a piece of music in front of a judge, and attempt to play the piece to the best of your abilities. A certain number of people are accepted into the band for each instrument, based on how well each person does. You can still get into the band if you mistakes, as long as you make less mistakes than others. It all depends on how well you did compared to everyone else. A player can have made 1 mistake too many, and consequently not make it in. However, even if you make 1000 mistakes, you still did better than the one who made 1001. Spelling bees have a similar concept. You start out at a school-wide bee, then move on to regional, statewide, and national. Each time, you compete against other kids, taking turns spelling words. When someone misspells a word, they are disqualified from the bee. At the national level, the last kid to misspell a word is the final loser, and the winner is declared. The last mistake is made by the second-to-last kid standing, and when he loses, he feels devastated. Society emphasizes the importance of winning over everything, and it affects everyone - including kids. If we placed less value on winning, and more on the experience, our society would be less corrupt. Winning would be an added bonus, but not a necessity.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” John Maxwell correctly outlined the importance of losing. Losing a game teaches you that things don’t always happen the way you want them to. This is an important part of life that we must all learn. By placing such a strong emphasis on winning, society teaches us that winning is the most important part of a game. Yet, the important part is learning, having fun, and enjoying yourself as you play the game. Yes, the person to make the last mistake loses - but is that really such a bad thing?